But with a retiring Cadel Evans also racing as a BMC teammate, the South Australian realises that he will most likely have to shelve his ambitions, at least for next year's race.

For the January 17-25 race, Dennis is expecting to be assigned to a support role for Evans, 37, who will retire a week later at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race in Victoria on February 1.

Dennis, 24, is nevertheless keen to race alongside the 2011 Tour de France champion in any capacity, having experienced  this year's Vuelta a Espana.

"That will be a bonus. It will be a pretty big hype with it being his last [World Tour] race. There'll be a lot of attention around the team," Dennis said of the opportunity he will also get at the Australian road titles at Buninyong, in Victoria, a week earlier.

Asked if he could emerge as an overall contender for the Tour Down Under as the focus on Evans follows him throughout his week in South Australia, Dennis said: "I could, but maybe I will have to try and help him.

"He will probably want to go out on a high. So if he is up for the win, I am more than happy to take a back step. I have plenty of years to do something at that race."

Dennis, who joined BMC from Garmin-Sharp in August, is certainly a credentialled tour rider – and even showed his promise at the Tour Down Under when he raced it as an amateur.

In the 2012 edition of a race first held in 1999, Dennis placed fifth overall and also won the King of the Mountains category when he rode for the Uni SA-Australia national team.

He has confirmed his potential since during his two years as a professional.

Last year, Dennis won the Tour of Alberta and was eighth overall in the Criterium du Dauphine (winning the best young rider classification) to earn a Tour de France start.

He did not finish the Tour due to injury, but he returned this year to place second overall in the Tour of California in which he won a mountain stage and second again in the Circuit de la Sarthe in France.

He also notched up his first grand tour finish the Vuelta a Espana, finishing the three-week race strongly with a third in the 21^st and final stage - a time trial.

Dennis is a world-class time trialler, as he showed this season, with   five seconds and two thirds in the discipline.

Any lament for so many near misses was forgotten when he and BMC won gold in the team time trial at the world road championships in Ponferrada, Spain, in September.

At the world championships and when racing for Australia, Dennis also placed fifth in the men's elite time trial title and in the road race worked for Simon Gerrans who won the silver medal.

A clearer idea of Dennis' Tour Down Under prospects should emerge at the Australian road championships at Buninyong.

Dennis believes he and Evans will have better odds of success at the Tour Down Under than in the national title road race on January 11 where there is no limit on team numbers and a squad such as Orica-GreenEDGE can stack the race with starters.

But Buninyong should still show who between them will be in better form for the Tour Down Under – likewise for all the Australians who back up for the South Australian event.

Dennis says BMC will have three riders in the national title with himself, Evans, and Campbell Flakemore. But they will still keep an open mind at Buninyong where this year Evans still placed second behind Gerrans, the Orica-GreenEDGE leader.

"A lot can happen," said Dennis, who will also race the national time trial title before the road race. "We are not going to throw bullets like Orica-GreenEDGE can. We don't have the numbers; but if push comes to shove we will decide on the road but you never know."